Warning: Fake ‘ClawdBot’ AI Token Surges to $16M Before 90% Drop – Founder Highlights Scam Risks

The creator of the open-source AI assistant ClawdBot, now known as Moltbot, has issued a significant alert to the cryptocurrency community regarding a fraudulent token that misuses his project’s name, duping traders and resulting in major financial setbacks.

Key Takeaways

Fraudulent token $CLAWD, linked to the ClawdBot project, briefly achieved a market cap of $16 million.
Founder Peter Steinberger has clarified he never issued any tokens or has any association with such cryptocurrency.
Following his public statement, the market cap of $CLAWD plummeted from $8 million to below $800,000.
Steinberger is actively working to reclaim misappropriated accounts being used to promote scams.
Concerns about security vulnerabilities of ClawdBot deployments have also arisen, emphasizing the importance of user safety.

ClawdBot Founder Warns: “I Issued No Token”—Beware Peter Steinberger Token Scams

ClawdBot Founder’s Message to the Community

Founder Peter Steinberger publicly warned the crypto community about the emergence of fraudulent tokens linked to his project. In his statements, he emphasized that he has never released a token, nor does he have any intentions to do so. He clarified that he has no ties to any cryptocurrency that claims to be associated with his work.

The counterfeit token, known as $CLAWD, briefly gained popularity among retail traders, particularly on Solana-based meme coin platforms, and reached an inflated market valuation of around $16 million. However, this hype quickly dissipated. As soon as Steinberger denied any affiliation, the market cap dropped sharply from roughly $8 million to below $800,000.

This issue arose after Steinberger was inundated with inquiries from crypto traders following the sudden creation of meme coins associated with the name “ClawdBot.”

Founder Warns of Negative Impact on the Software Project

In a post on X, Steinberger requested that investors cease trying to contact him, stating that he would not accept any fees or endorsements related to cryptocurrency launches. This warning comes amid a surge in impersonation accounts promoting the $CLAWD token on Solana-based meme coin platforms.

Although the token briefly gained traction and some traders reported gains, many highlighted the pattern of speculative tokens losing value once the truth surfaced. Users on X accused the anonymous developers of engaging in repeated “rug-pull” schemes, claiming similar projects had been launched and abandoned under various other names.

The situation was worsened by the transition to a new name for the ClawdBot project. Steinberger explained that the group had to rebrand to Moltbot due to trademark issues. During this renaming process, errors in account migration enabled third parties to take control of related GitHub and X handles, further complicating matters. These rogue accounts were then used to impersonate the project and promote cryptocurrency tokens deceptively.

Steinberger is collaborating with GitHub to recover the affected accounts, urging users to disregard any crypto-related claims tied to the ClawdBot project.

ClawdBot Faces Increased Scrutiny Due to Security Concerns

Originally gaining traction among developers, ClawdBot (now Moltbot) caught attention earlier this month due to its viral nature. This open-source, self-hosted AI assistant is designed to operate locally on a user’s machine and integrate seamlessly with messaging platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, and Slack.

Distinct from web-based chatbots, ClawdBot is engineered to retain long-term memory, execute commands, and automate tasks on users' systems.

Peter Steinberger, who previously sold the software company PSPDFKit for approximately €100 million, returned to the development arena to create a project that focuses on privacy compared to conventional cloud-hosted AI solutions.

However, cybersecurity concerns regarding ClawdBot have also surfaced. Security researchers, including those from blockchain security firm SlowMist, reported that numerous ClawdBot instances were publicly accessible due to incorrect proxy settings. Such misconfigurations posed significant risks as they could expose sensitive data, including API keys and chat logs.

While researchers emphasized that these security issues were attributed to user errors rather than hidden exploits, they warned that the implications could be severe, given the tool's extensive access to user systems. This added layer of caution coincided with scammers taking advantage of the project's newfound visibility to market dubious tokens to speculative traders.